{{short description|Trinidadian javelin thrower}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Keshorn Walcott | honorific-suffix = ORTT | image = Keshorn Walcott - 2012 Olympics.jpg | imagesize = 250px | caption = Walcott at the 2012 London Olympics | sport = Track and field | event = Javelin throw | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1993|04|02}} | birth_place = Toco, Trinidad and Tobago | height = 1.83 m | weight = 90 kg | pb = 90.16 m '''NR''' (2015) | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's javelin throw}} {{Medal|Country|{{TTO}}}}{{Medal|Competition|Olympic Games}} {{Medal|Gold|2012 London|Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Bronze|2016 Rio de Janeiro|Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Competition|World Championships}} {{Medal|Gold|2025 Tokyo|Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Competition|Commonwealth Games}} {{Medal|Silver| 2014 Glasgow | Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Competition|Pan American Games}} {{Medal|Gold|2015 Toronto|Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Silver|2019 Lima|Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Competition|Continental Cup}} {{Medal|Gold|2014 Marrakesh|Javelin throw}} {{Medal|Competition|World Junior Championships}} {{Medal|Gold |2012 Barcelona|Javelin throw}} }}
'''Keshorn "Keshie" Walcott''', ORTT (born 2 April 1993) is a Trinidadian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is the 2012 Olympic champion and the 2025 World champion. He is the first Caribbean male athlete, as well as the first of African descent, to win the gold medal in a throwing event in the history of the Olympics.<ref>[http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/trinidad-and-tobago/keshorn-walcott-249321#biography Athlete Profile - Keshorn Walcott]; prepared 24 April 2013, by Kwame Laurence for the IAAF "Focus on athletes" project; accessed 29 March 2014.</ref> He is also the holder of the North, Central American and Caribbean junior record.
Walcott is the youngest Olympic gold medallist in the men's javelin (19 years 131 days), and the first athlete in any track and field event to win World Junior and Olympic titles in an individual event the same year.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/olympic-javelin-champion-keshorn-walcott-face|title=Olympic Champion Keshorn Walcott Faces the Press|last=Minshull|first=Phil|date=29 November 2012|work=IAAF General News|publisher=IAAF online press release|access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> He is also the second-oldest gold medallist in the men's javelin at the World Championships (32 years 169 days).
==Career==
===Early life and medals=== Born the third child of Beverly Walcott and Endy King, Walcott grew up playing football and cricket, striving to keep up with his athletically talented older brother Elton. He was raised in the fishing village of Toco, in north-east Trinidad.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://guardian.co.tt/olympics/2012-08-11/walcott-goes-olympic-glory-today|title=Walcott Goes For Olympic Glory Today|last=Feimine|first=Kevon|date=11 August 2012|work=Trinidad & Tobago Guardian online|publisher=Guardian media|access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> He did not take up the javelin until the age of 15, but found immediate success. By April 2009, one week after his 16th birthday, he was the Caribbean youth (under-17) champion.
In 2010 he stepped up to the standard regulation javelin (800-gram), and he continued his domination of the Caribbean junior division, as the three-time winner in the Junior (under-20) javelin throw at the CARIFTA Games in 2010 to 2012, setting a new NACAC North, Central American and Caribbean junior record in 2012.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2012-04-17/lendore-thomas-world-top-four Lendore, Thomas in World top four]</ref>
===2012 World Junior Champion=== He began the Olympic year in April with his fourth-consecutive victory at CARIFTA Juniors. A record throw of {{T&Fcalc|77.59}} earned him the distinction of competing unbeaten throughout his CARIFTA career. In late May 2012 he twice improved his personal best, breaking through the 80-meter mark (262 feet) for the first time. At the Quantum Classic in Trinidad and Tobago he threw {{T&Fcalc|78.94}}, breaking Trinidad's national javelin record of {{T&Fcalc|78.06}}, set in 1996 by Kurt Thompson. It was also a NACAC junior record as well. One week later he reset all those marks, while competing at the IAAF International Centennial Meet in Havana, Cuba. He extended the records with a winning throw of {{T&Fcalc|80.11}}.<ref>{{cite news|title=Walcott throws at Junior Champs |url=http://usportt.com/archives/19319 |publisher=usportt.com |author=Kwame Laurence |date=1 June 2012 |access-date=22 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329231605/http://usportt.com/archives/19319 |archive-date=29 March 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.ttnaaa.org/fanzone/athletes/keshorn_walcott/bio.html Athletes biography-Keshorn Walcott] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913221338/http://www.ttnaaa.org/fanzone/athletes/keshorn_walcott/bio.html |date=13 September 2019 }}; official competitor's biography compiled by Linley Bernard for Trinidad's NAAATT in 2012, updated in 2013; accessed 29 March 2014.</ref>
===2012 London Olympic Champion===
In the stadium on Saturday evening 11 August, made conditions for the javelin throw less than ideal, and worse than during Wednesday's qualifying rounds.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/london-2012-event-report-mens-javelin-thr|title=London 2012 - Event Report - Men's Javelin Throw Final|last=Turner|first=Chris|date=11 August 2012|work=IAAF General News|publisher=IAAF|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref> Walcott responded to the pressure of the Olympic finals by throwing a personal best distance on his first throw, giving him the lead, and then exceeding that distance on his second throw. He won the Olympic javelin gold medal with a throw of {{convert|84.58|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. He defeated a string of top athletes to win the competition including 90-metre thrower Tero Pitkämäki and two-time defending Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen,<ref>IAAF news report, Men's Javelin Throw Finals, 11 August 2012.</ref> as well as Veselý, Oleksandr Pyatnytsya and Antti Ruuskanen.<ref>{{cite web | first=Justin | last=Palmer | title=Trinidad's Walcott takes surprise javelin gold | work=Reuters| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/oly-athl-atmjav-day15-update-1-pix-idUSL6E8JB2G120120811 | date=11 August 2012 | access-date=11 August 2012}}</ref> This made Walcott the youngest-ever Olympic champion in javelin throw and the second non-European to win the Olympic gold in men's javelin throw since American thrower Cy Young in Helsinki in 1952.<ref>{{cite news|title=Walcott wins men's javelin gold for Trinidad and Tobago | newspaper=The Washington Post| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/london-2012-olympics/wp/2012/08/11/live-blog-usain-bolt-brazil-mexico-soccer/#liveblog-entry-12186| date=11 August 2012 | access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref>
Steve Backley, a former three-time Olympic medalist in the javelin remarked that it was a "surprise win for Keshorn Walcott. Everyone else struggled with the wind".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/olympics/18912873|title=Olympics javelin: Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago wins gold|last=Backley|first=Steve|date=11 August 2012|work=BBC Sport|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
Following his Olympic victory, Walcott was hailed as a national hero. On 13 August, the day of his arrival back in Trinidad, was declared a national holiday. He was awarded $150,000 in cash and given land near his hometown of Toco, as well as a luxury home in Port of Spain. In addition, both the Toco lighthouse, (in north-east Trinidad) and the Toco Secondary School were renamed in his honour.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/aug/14/trinidad-tobago-lighthouse-keshorn-walcott|title=Trinidad and Tobago medallist has lighthouse named after him|last=Riach|first=James|date=14 August 2012|work=The Guardian.com|access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>
Walcott has been coached since 2009 by Cuban-born Ismael Lopez Mastrapa.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Anil__Astounding__amazing__spectacular-165884416.html|title=Anil: Astounding, amazing, spectacular|date=12 August 2012|work=Trinidad Express|access-date=17 September 2012}}</ref>
===2013 to 2014=== Walcott's 2013 season was hampered by injury. In his first competition since his Olympic victory, he "opened big", nearly matching his personal best with an opening round throw of {{T&Fcalc|84.39}} at a hometown meet in Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on Friday 3 May.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/olympic-champion-walcott-returns-to-action-wi|title=Olympic champion Walcott returns to action with 84.39m|last=Laurence|first=Kwame|date=4 May 2013|work=Trinidad Express, for IAAF|access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>
In an early March 2014 interview with BBC Scotland, Walcott said that after some rest his ankle "is back to normal". With no World or Olympic competitions to aim for, his 2014 season will be targeted on the 2014 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland. He had a six-week training camp in Cuba in March and planned to compete at a few events in May 2014, before taking part in another training camp in Europe so he can adjust to Glasgow's climate. He said, "My coach likes me to get away from a lot of distractions and just focus on training and being healthy."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/commonwealth-games/26561221|title=Glasgow 2014: Keshorn Walcott thinks gold would be 'huge step'|last=Fraser|first=Graham|date=13 March 2014|work=BBC Scotland|access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> In the qualifying round of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Kershorn threw a new personal best of {{T&Fcalc|85.28}} on 1 August, but in the finals on 2 August he finished second with a throw of 82.67m, trailing Julius Yego of Kenya's winning 83.87m.
At the IAAF Diamond League's final meeting, the Weltklasse in Zurich, Switzerland on 28 August 2014, he set a new personal best/national record of {{convert|85.77|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in the opening round, finishing second behind Germany's Thomas Rohler's toss of 87.63m.
===Tokyo Olympics 2020=== The 2012 London Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott did not qualify for the men's javelin throw final after finishing 7th in Group B in the qualification phase. Throwing in Group B, Walcott's best throw of 79.33 on his third throw placed him 7th in that group which was not good enough to qualify him for his third straight Olympic javelin final. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tt.loopnews.com/content/walcott-fails-qualify-olympic-javelin-final-2012|title = Walcott fails to qualify for the Olympic javelin final 2021 | Loop Trinidad & Tobago}}</ref>
==Competition record== {| {{AchievementTable|Event=yes}} |- !colspan="6"|Representing {{TRI}} |- |rowspan=2|2009 |CARIFTA Games (U17) |Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw (700g) |59.30 m |- |World Youth Championships |Brixen, Italy |13th (q) |Javelin throw (700g) |66.72 m |- |rowspan=3|2010 |CARIFTA Games (U20) |George Town, Cayman Islands |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |63.41 m |- |Central American and Caribbean<br>Junior Championships (U20) |Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |67.01 m |- |World Junior Championships |Moncton, Canada |16th (q) |Javelin throw |66.05 m |- |rowspan=3|2011 |CARIFTA Games (U20) |Hamilton, Bermuda |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |72.04 m |- |Central American and Caribbean Championships |Mayagüez, Puerto Rico |4th |Javelin throw |70.98 m |- |Pan American Games |Guadalajara, Mexico |7th |Javelin throw |75.77 m |- |rowspan=4|2012 |CARIFTA Games (U20) |Hamilton, Bermuda |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |77.59 m |- |Central American and Caribbean<br>Junior Championships (U20) |San Salvador, El Salvador |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |82.83 m |- |World Junior Championships |Barcelona, Spain |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |78.64 m |- |Olympic Games |London, United Kingdom |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |Javelin throw |84.58 m (NR) |- |2013 |World Championships |Moscow, Russia |19th (q) |Javelin throw |78.78 m |- |2014 |Commonwealth Games |Glasgow, United Kingdom |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |Javelin throw |82.67 m |- |rowspan=2|2015 |Pan American Games |Toronto, Canada |bgcolor=gold|1st |Javelin throw |83.27 m |- |World Championships |Beijing, China |26th (q) |Javelin throw |76.83 m |- |2016 |Olympic Games |Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |bgcolor="cc9966" | 3rd |Javelin throw |85.38 m |- |2017 |World Championships |London, United Kingdom |7th |Javelin throw |84.48 m |- |2018 |Central American and Caribbean Games |Barranquilla, Colombia |bgcolor=gold|1st |Javelin throw |84.47 m |- |rowspan=2|2019 |Pan American Games |Lima, Peru |bgcolor=silver|2nd |Javelin throw |83.55 m |- |World Championships |Doha, Qatar |11th |Javelin throw |77.47 m |- |2021 |Olympic Games |Tokyo, Japan |16th (q) |Javelin throw |79.33 m |- |rowspan=2|2022 |World Championships |Eugene, United States |16th (q) |Javelin throw |78.87 m |- |NACAC Championships |Freeport, Bahamas |bgcolor=silver|2nd |Javelin throw |83.94 m |- |2023 |Central American and Caribbean Games |San Salvador, El Salvador |bgcolor=gold|1st |Javelin throw |83.60 m |- |2024 |Olympic Games |Paris, France |7th |Javelin throw |86.16 m |- |2025 |World Championships |Tokyo, Japan |bgcolor=gold|1st |Javelin throw |88.16m |}
==Seasonal bests== *2010 – {{T&Fcalc|67.01}} *2011 – {{T&Fcalc|75.77}} *2012 – {{T&Fcalc|84.58}} *2013 – {{T&Fcalc|84.39}} *2014 – {{T&Fcalc|85.77}} *2015 – '''{{T&Fcalc|90.16}} NR''' *2016 – {{T&Fcalc|88.68}} *2017 – {{T&Fcalc|86.61}}
==See also== * Trinidad and Tobago at the 2012 Summer Olympics * List of javelin throwers
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{World Athletics}} * {{Olympedia}} * {{Olympics.com}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20250120133317/https://www.olympics.com/en/paris-2024/athlete/keshorn-walcott_1911652 Keshorn Walcott] at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics (archived, [https://paris2024.rtve.es/es/paris-2024/atleta/keshorn-walcott_1911652 alternate link]) * {{2019 Pan American Games profile|athletics/athlete-profile-n1136650-walcott-keshorn}} *[https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1294117-keshorn-walcott-trinidad-and-tobago-relishes-2nd-gold-medal-in-nations-history T&T Native Enjoys 2nd Gold in Nation's History] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7MB40wzos4|Olympic Games 2012 JAVELIN Men Final]; YouTube video shows Walcott in comparison to his fellow competitors in London, not simply his gold medal-winning throw. * [http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/london-2012-event-report-mens-javelin-thr London 2012 - Event Report - Men's Javelin Throw Final]; detailed results of London 2012 Finals. * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150727013441/http://www.sportarchivestt.com/athletes/keshorn-walcott/ Keshorn Walcott's Career Highlights and Honors]}}; The National Sports Archives of Trinidad and Tobago lists the astonishing number of national awards and honors bestowed on Walcott following his 2012 Olympic victory.
{{s-start}} {{s-sports|oly}} {{succession box | before = Marc Burns | title = Flagbearer for {{TRI}} | years = Rio de Janeiro 2016 | after = Kelly-Ann Baptiste }} {{s-end}} {{Footer Olympic Champions Javelin Throw Men}} {{Footer World Champions Javelin Throw Men}} {{Footer CAC Champions Javelin Men}} {{Footer World Junior Champions men's javelin throw}} {{IAAF Rising Star (men)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walcott, Keshorn}} Category:1993 births Category:Living people Category:Trinidad and Tobago men javelin throwers Category:Olympic athletes for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Olympic gold medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Pan American Games athletes for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics Category:Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Pan American Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Category:Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Category:Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Category:Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Category:Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Category:World Athletics Championships winners Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for Trinidad and Tobago Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games